New Triumph Speed Twin 900 And 1200
A pretty significant update to both of Triumph’s speed twin models.
The 900 and the 1200 and to me, these updates really do look quite interesting, with a lot of changes that I think the customers have genuinely been asking for.
we’ll go through all of the details with everything that we can pick out from these picks.
Speed Twin 900: A Brief History
Now, let’s start with the speed twin 900 and this is a bike that started life back in 2015. And it was originally when it was launched, known as the Street Twin.
It’s basically a slightly more modern twist on the Bonneville platform, but with a lot of the same underpinnings as a bike like the T 100.
It was a brilliant retro commuter really good looking, lots of torque, bags of fun to ride, especially sort of carving through traffic.
Now, a few years later, in 2019, Triumph actually announced the speed twin.
And this is a much more sporty version with the 1200 engine and a more serious chassis spec.
Then in 2022, I think to streamline the naming conventions, because the modern classics lineup was, and still is, really quite big, they renamed them.
So the street twin became the speed twin 900, and the speed twin became the speed twin 1200.
Thing is though, in making this change, well, it was just the name. They didn’t make any technical changes to the street twin.
I think some people felt like it wasn’t necessarily worthy of the speed twin 900 name.
Suspension and Handling Enhancements
Now, first up, we’ve got the suspension, which used to be pretty simple, with a fairly basic right way up fork, and simple twin shocks.
But this bike is on what looks like significantly upgraded suspension.
So you’ve got an upside down fork at the front from Marzocchi, and twin shocks at the rear, also from Marzocchi. And these get piggyback reservoirs.
Now, I still wouldn’t expect a great deal of adjustability for this. It isn’t meant to be that sort of level of rider that it’s targeted at.
But you will, of course, get the obligatory preload on the shocks. And still, an upside down fork should perform better than the right way up fork, because the heavier bits at the top, so there’s less unsprung weight, so the fork can more easily do its job.
the standard shocks on the current generation are really quite basic. So I’d imagine that these are gonna be a bit of a step up.
Brake caliper
Now, you’ve got a radially mounted four piston brake caliper up front there. It’s still on a single disk. But generally, radial calipers are more rigid.
There’s less deflection than axial calipers. And so I’d expect this to be a little crisper than even the Brembo branded caliper on the current bike, which is actually mounted.
It also looks like it will carry triumph branding on this caliper, which is something we’re seeing more and more of on their bikes recently.
Like the Daytona 660, for example. But ultimately, they’ll be made by, I guess, Jejuan, who make brakes for many, many people.
Pretty much everyone, I guess. Realistically, this allows triumph to spec them exactly as they want, but also potentially save a bit.
And not having the big fancy name on the calipers.
Wheel
Now, you’ve still got an 18 inch wheel up front on this bike, which does give it a bit of that old school appearance, naturally, being a bit bigger as well.
It’s not gonna feel quite so sporty as the 17 inch, for example, on the 1200 speed twin.But it does look like you get a new spoke pattern here.
And so maybe they’ve been able to shed a bit of weight. And lighter wheels can have a dramatic effect on the handling of the bike, because they’re both rotating mass and unsprung mass.
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The only major downside, I suppose, of that 18 inch front is it does mean you’re a little bit limited in terms of choice of tires, especially when it comes to the more sporty stuff.
But I guess changing the wheel size means you probably have to change the frame as well, because it’s going to affect the geometry.
And so that might be why they decided not to do that.
Tech Features and Instrumentation
Now, from a tech perspective, the current gen bike gets a really simple analog speeder.
And then you’ve got a little lcd insert that just gives you a little bit more riding information, but fairly basic stuff. But it looks like this one, the one that’s been spiked out.
Testing gets that part inverted lcd display and part TFT, which you’ll see on a lot of their bikes at the moment.
Like the Street Triple R, the new Scrambler 1200 X, and of course, the 660 lineup. So the Trident, the Daytona, and the Tigersport.
This opens up a whole bunch more features like riding modes and menus and phone connectivity.
Triumph app
For handling calls, media and turn by turn nav through the my Triumph app. I’d say probably generally not that bothered about techy features on what is meant to be a fairly simple retro, like the speed twin 900.
But then again, this is the way that the whole motorcycle market is going. You’re getting more and more features on more and more bikes at different price points.
And even with the slightly more old school esthetic.
TFT
And I will say some of the key competitors for this bike, like the Ducati scrambler icon, you know, have recently been updated with a TFT dash, riding modes and that sort of thing.
So I do understand that triumph have to keep this bike competitive in terms of features.
Styling
Now, what’s also interesting is we can see a bit of a styling tweak here to bring it more in line with the visual style of the speaker v twin 1200.
I think it does make for a slightly better looking bike that’s a little bit more modern as well.
Headlight
There’s the new headlight with the daytime running light set into it, which does have a more premium feel than the standard bulb headlight that you get on the current bike.
Also, you’ve got more modern looking, standard issue triumph led indicators. I like the look of those as well.
Design
And then at the rear, the lighting’s changed quite a lot with something a bit sleeker that looks a lot more similar to the 1200.
I think there’s also a slightly different shape to the tank. I think it’s a little more angular.
The footpegs look to be a bit thinner and more sporty. And then also, the saddle, I think, is a bit flatter.
Much more in line with the one you’ll see on the 1200. And so it all adds up for a bike that I think looks a little more up to date.
But also the quality of the finish. The design of some of those pieces elevates this bike a little bit beyond the current model.
Exhaust
The only thing I will say that looks a bit ugly here is the emission sensors on the exhaust headers.
Because I can’t think that triumph would ever just leave them there, given how much attention to detail they put into the rest of the bike.
I will say, though, there are two things that I think make this bike really appealing for a lot of riders.
One of them is the fact that it’s the most affordable Bonneville powered bike that you can currently buy.
Weight & Height
It comes in at 8795 pounds. And the other is the seat height, which is really quite low at 765 mm.
So if you’re a newer rider, a shorter rider, or if you commuting and want to get your feet down when you’re threading through traffic, or if you just like that chilled out riding position, then that’s quite a lot lower than a lot of bikes, even in their lineup, but also from competitors.
And so it could be considered quite a strong selling point.
Now, almost certainly the price is going to go up quite a bit with all this technology and extra spec in terms of the chassis. And as for the seat height, well, like I say, the seat does look flatter.
It doesn’t stoop down so much. And a slight lift would also suit the more sporting character that they’re trying to give the bike.
You do feel a little bit sat back on the current bike, and so it’s not a riding position you’d typically associate with going fast.
So, look, what I think would be really great with this update is if they kept something similar to the current speed twin 900 with the lowish price, the fairly basic spec, the simple technology and that very accessible riding position.
But then also offer this bike for anyone who wants something a touch more punchy and maybe label it an RS version or something like that.
Basic Spec
On to the main course, though. The speed twin 1200 a brilliant retro bike. this one also came originally with a fairly basic spec.
So pretty simple brakes, a right way up fork. Until they updated it a couple of years later with Brembo m 50 brakes, I think, and a marzocchi upside down fork.
I always see this recurring theme, which is that people wanted, effectively, a full on RS version to really take full advantage of the way that this bike can ride.
It’s a brilliant engine, plenty of torque, a really good chassis as well. And one of the only things that really does let it down is the budget twin shocks at the rear.
Thing is, though, I always got the feeling that triumph didn’t want to spec this bike too good in case it started to step on the toes of their flagship sporty Bonneville, the Thruxton RS. But this year, they announced the final edition of the Thruxton.
They’re going to be winding it up. I guess it wasn’t selling particularly well. And so this limited run, the Thruxton Fe celebrates effectively the end of the line.
Sporty speed twin 1200
Now, sad news if you like a cafe racer, but the upside is it does clear a path for an even more sporty speed twin 1200.
Which of course, with the flat handlebars is going to be much more comfortable for the majority of riders than the clip on style bars of the thruxton.
So if it can do a similar job but more comfortable, then I think they’ll be onto a winner.
So you’ve got the 17 inch wheels front and rear, the Mazda zocky upside down fork up front, the sporty Brembo mono block brakes.
But at the rear, you can indeed now see fully adjustable Ohlins piggyback shocks, which should give you that massive step up in ride quality at the rear.
And also means this bike would totally warrant the Speedwin 1200 rs name should it exist. Now, you’ve also got some similar styling tweaks here to the 900.
So that new headlight, I think it is a different tank shape as well, with slightly more modern lines.